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40-629: The labor union CGT , headed in Cordoba by Agustín Tosco , called for National strike on May 30, 1969. But in Cordoba they decided to do a general strike one day earlier, on 29 May 1969. This strike brought police repression and a civil uprising, an episode later termed the Cordobazo. General Onganía had taken power during the 1966 coup, self-named Revolución Argentina (Argentine Revolution), which had toppled President Arturo Illia ( Radical Civic Union , UCR). Onganía's regime immediately suspended

80-402: A factory to manufacture rolling stock in the country to provide goods for Ferrocarriles Argentinos , the state-owned company that operated all the railway network then. The factory started operations in 1958, producing Materfer's first diesel multiple unit , the 7131 , in 1962. Between 1956 and 1968, a consortium of Italian and Argentine companies, "Gruppo Aziende Italo Argentine" (GAIA),

120-567: A promotional tool to advertise passenger rail service in the United States . In 1962, the 7131, a railcar manufactured by FIAT Concord, made its debut in the Villa Ballester – Zárate and Victoria – Capilla del Señor sections of General Mitre Railway , then managed by Ferrocarriles Argentinos . Those light cars replaced Ganz Works railcars that had been run on those lines since 1938. In 1964, 27 coaches built by Aerfer ,

160-750: A prototype trolleybus for the Mendoza trolleybus system , based on designs developed by that system's operator, the Empresa Provincial de Transportes de Mendoza (EPTM). The completed vehicle, which was the first trolleybus built in Argentina in 24 years, was delivered in March 2013 and entered service in June. It is an 11.23-metre (36.8 ft), low-floor design. In July 2013, EPTM placed an order with Materfer for 12 production-series trolleybuses of

200-537: A subsidiary of FIAT Ferroviaria , were added to the Belgrano Norte line . Four years later, the fleet was expanded with the addition of 20 coaches which replaced the old ones made in Tafí Viejo. In 1975 Materfer supplied more coaches (named "FIAT III") for the line. During the 1980s Materfer began to export its products, and the factory also manufactured a line of diesel locomotives, named "Transfer". In

240-565: Is founded to manufacture spares and parts for the GAIA locomotives . In 1958 the Ministry of Transport of Argentina signed an agreement with Fiat Ferroviaria to acquire 210 brand-new railcars . Those machines were formed by 2 units powered by a FIAT diesel engine at 660 HP . The railcars could reach speeds of 115 km/h. Their low weight made them suitable to run on any railway line. The vehicles also had two driver cabins, one on each end of

280-924: The Government of Argentina took over freight railway company Belgrano Cargas , Materfer offered to build the rolling stock to supply the 7,040 km length of the line. The company stated that it could produce 6 locomotives per year. Materfer also supplied railcars for the Entre Ríos railways, mainly the Basavilbaso – Concordia and Paraná – Concepción del Uruguay branches, currently operated by Trenes Argentinos S.E. Some 7131 railcars were also refurbished in 2008 and used by Private company Trenes Especiales Argentinos (TEA) to run passenger services from F. Lacroze (Buenos Aires) to Posadas in Misiones Province . In 2012–13, Materfer built

320-601: The junta . On 13 May 1969, in Tucumán , former workers of a sugar mill took the factory and its manager as hostage, asking for overdue payments. On 14 May, in Córdoba, automobile industry workers protested the elimination of the Saturday rest. On 15 May, the university of Corrientes increased the price of food tickets in its cafeteria fivefold, and the ensuing protest ended up with one student, Juan José Cabral, killed by

360-612: The right to strike , froze workers' wages, deactivated the Commission on Minimum Wages, while his Minister of Economy , Adalbert Krieger Vasena , decreed a 40% devaluation of the peso . The age of retirement was also extended. Onganía had also implemented the "law on repression of Communism " and had ordered the Dirección de Investigación de Políticas Antidemocráticas (DIPA) political police to detain political activists and trade-unionists who did not care to cooperate with him in

400-516: The "participationist" policies, and, considering universities as "centers of subversion and communism", had also reneged on the 1918 University Reform (which had found its origins in students' protests in Córdoba), violently expelling from universities teachers and students in the Noche de los Bastones Largos . Furthermore, Onganía was attempting to impose corporatism in Argentina. In this context,

440-483: The 1955 military coup, known as the Revolución Libertadora , which had toppled Juan Perón . Henceforth, the Cordobazo showed, to contemporary activists, that they could find popular support for violent and revolutionary means of actions against Onganía's dictatorship, thus radicalizing the social and political context of Argentina. Several armed groups were formed or strengthened in the aftermaths of

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480-634: The 7131 was inspired on the 1934 Pioneer Zephyr , a diesel-powered railroad train formed of railroad cars permanently articulated together with Jacobs bogies , built by the Budd Company in 1934 for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q), commonly known as the Burlington. The train featured extensive use of stainless steel , was originally named the Zephyr , and was meant as

520-782: The CGT Azopardo, headed by Vandor, boasted 770,085 members and the majority in the Confederal Congress. Materfer Materfer (an acronym for Material Ferroviario S.A. ) is an Argentine manufacturer of railway and road vehicles, located in the city of Ferreyra in Córdoba Province . The company was established by Fiat Concord in the late 1950s, being its subsidiary until 1980 when Sevel Argentina took over Fiat vehicles. Materfer has built several types of rolling stock in its history, such as diesel locomotives , coaches and trams , most of them for

560-602: The CGT, Augusto Vandor ) were searched and its leaders arrested. Thus, Agustín Tosco , one of the main leader of the CGTA, was arrested and condemned by the War Council. On the following days, official medias reflected the official vision of the events, allegedly a conspiracy of international communism. The Cordobazo immediately influenced events in other parts of the country, where violent demonstrations also occurred, and favored

600-798: The Cordobazo, among them the Fuerzas Armadas Peronistas (FAP, 1967), the Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación (FAL, 1968), the Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo (ERP), the Revolutionary Peronists Montoneros , and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias . Finally, the Cordobazo showed Onganía's weakness. He forced his Minister of Economy Vasena to resign, while a transition period opened itself,

640-760: The Justicialist Party and the Movimiento de Integración y Desarrollo (MID), headed by Arturo Frondizi . The FRECILINA requested free and unrestricted elections, which took place on March 11, 1973. General Confederation of Labour of the Argentines The CGTA ( CGT de los Argentinos , or General Confederation of Labour of the Argentines) was an offshoot of the General Confederation of Labour created during

680-597: The Normalisation Congress of the CGT of 28–30 March 1968, and which lasted until 1972. Behind the figure of the graphist Raimundo Ongaro (also close to the film movement Grupo Cine Liberación ), it gathered opponents to the "participationists" (the latter including Augusto Vandor , then leader of the CGT, José Ignacio Rucci , José Alonso , etc.) who supported collaboration with Juan Carlos Onganía 's military dictatorship (1966–1970). The CGTA gathered many unionist delegates who refused to participate to

720-521: The Normalisation Congress, opposing collaboration with the junta. It had support from various artists, among whom Rodolfo Walsh , author of the "Program of 1st of May" of the CGTA and chief editor of its weekly. The CGTA was also close to the clerical Movimiento de Sacerdotes para el Tercer Mundo , a group of priests close to the Liberation Theology , forming one of the first model of Neoperonism  [ es ] . The CGTA supported

760-784: The Peronist Party from participating to it. Lanusse tried to implement starting in July 1971 the Gran Acuerdo Nacional (Great National Agreement), which was to find an honorable exit for the military junta without allowing Peronism participation to the elections. The proposal was rejected by Perón, exiled in Spain, who formed the FRECILINA ( Frente Cívico de Liberación Nacional , Civic Front of National Liberation), headed by his delegate Héctor José Cámpora and which gathered

800-568: The Zárate and Capilla del Señor branches. The company bought 8 units made by Materfer and soon nicknamed them Pitufos (a Spanish translation for " Smurfs ") due to their small size. Nevertheless, the low passenger capacity and poor damping of those units made many of the 7131 remain active. In the late 1980s and early 1990s the company built its last vehicles under the FIAT Ferroviaria name, an order of trams for Premetro line E2 in

840-578: The car, which reduced the time of manoeuvres at termini stations, particularly in urban services. Railcars were built in the FIAT factories of Turin , Decauville and Córdoba . Although the first railcars were manufactured in Italy and France, most of them were made in Argentina, in a factory specially designed for that assignment located in Ferreyra, Córdoba and named "Materfer". Some versions stated that

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880-637: The city of Buenos Aires . In February 1998 the company declared bankruptcy and therefore closed. When Argentine railways were privatised , 8 of the FIAT 7131 cars were sent to serve at Merlo-Lobos branch of Sarmiento Line and the rest continued to serve at the Retiro – Victoria branches of Mitre Line . Their original engines were replaced by Cummins ones. The units on the Mitre Line was also equipped with air conditioning, while seats were upholstered in corduroy and floors carpeted. In March 2002, Materfer

920-962: The conjoint declaration of 11 November 1970, named la Hora del Pueblo (The Hour of the People), which called for free and immediate democratic elections to put an end to the political crisis. The declaration was signed by the Radical Civic Union (UCR), the Justicialist Party (Peronist Party), the Argentine Socialist Party (PSA), the Conservative People's Party (PCP) and the Partido Bloquista (PB). The Opposition's call for elections led to Levingston's replacement by General Alejandro Lanusse , who called for elections but excluded

960-609: The early to mid 1980s, the company built the Fiat-Materfer underground cars for use on the Buenos Aires Underground . The intention of these trainsets was to create a standardised fleet for the Underground network - which had a diverse range of rolling stock at the time - in order to reduce the maintenance costs associated with having many different models, and also to replace the ageing rolling stock of

1000-682: The failure of a 120 days strike at the Fabril Financiera , and the reconciliation between Augusto Vandor , leader of the "participationists", with Juan Perón , the CGTA witnessed many of its unions joining the 62 Organisations , the Peronist political front of the CGT. Despite this, in 1969, the CGTA still boasted 286,184 members, while the Nueva Corriente de Opinión (or Participationism), headed by José Alonso and Rogelio Coria  [ es ] boasted 596,863 members and

1040-454: The firefighters in order to impede the fire from extending itself to other city blocks. On the night of 29 to 30 May 1969, Onganía decided to send the military to crush the uprising. Meanwhile, the headquarters of the CGT de los Argentinos (CGTA, an offshoot of the General Confederation of Labour created in 1968 over opposition to the collaborationist stance adopted by the general secretary of

1080-402: The first victim of the Cordobazo, Máximo Mena, which triggered further demonstrations and rioting. Progressively, the population took control of most of the city, setting up barricades to defend themselves. They burnt several administrative centers, as well as the headquarters of the foreign firms, which symbolized Vasena's economic policies, of Citroën and Xerox , although they then accompanied

1120-419: The important industrial hub of Córdoba was one of the experimental place of corporatist policies, implemented by the appointed governor Carlos Caballero . These unpopular measures led to increasing strikes and protests in the country. At the beginning of May '69, a succession of strikes and popular assemblies occurred in Córdoba, which were harshly repressed by the provincial and national military authorities of

1160-451: The influence of trade unionists radically opposed to the dictatorship. This latter current, known as sindicalismo clasista , came to head the SMATA trade union of Córdoba, as well as the autonomous unions of Fiat Concord and Fiat Materfer ( SITRAC-SITRAM ). Workers' leaders of Córdoba, such as Agustín Tosco , René Salamanca , Gregorio Flores and José Francisco Páez , played a role on

1200-650: The machines to Brazil . In April 2015 Materfer produced CMM 400-2 railcars for the Tren del Valle that runs between the cities of Neuquén and Cipolletti in Rio Negro Province . The company was also committed to build 20 railcars for other re-opening projected in Chaco and Salta . The railcars (CMM-400-2) finally arrived in Chaco on June. In 2015 CMM 400-2 trainsets were acquired for and incorporated into

1240-537: The manufacture of diesel locomotives , coaches and railcars for the Argentine and international markets. The factory produced about one coach per day. Materfer has also produced combine harvesters under the brand "Maraní Agrinar ". Nowadays the company has 400 employees working at its factory in Ferreyra. Materfer was established by Fiat Ferroviaria , through Fiat Concord, a consortium formed by many FIAT subsidiaries operating in Argentina. The company built

Cordobazo - Misplaced Pages Continue

1280-654: The military junta, supreme organ of the so-called Revolución Argentina , deciding to depose Onganía of his leadership, replaced in June 1970 by General Roberto M. Levingston , former military attaché at the Argentine Embassy in Washington D.C. Instead of calling for elections, Levingston decided to go ahead with the Revolución Argentina , governing against the will of the different political parties. The latter countered Levingston's policies by

1320-738: The more radical unions' branches (ports, oil, sugar industry , etc.), quickly establishing national scale. It was headed in Cordoba by the leader of the Cordobese trade union Luz y Fuerza  [ es ] , Agustín Tosco . They took an important part in the Cordobazo uprising and the call for a general strike , which occurred on 30 June 1969, hours following Augusto Vandor's assassination. Thereafter, most of its leaders, including Raimundo Ongaro, Agustín Tosco, Elpidio Torres  [ es ] , Lorenzo Pepe , etc., were jailed. Following

1360-495: The national political stage. In Salta , Armando Jaime also headed the CGT clasista . It also underlined two new facts in Argentine politics: on one hand, the alliance of the students' movement with the workers, and on the other hand, the predominance of the interior (or of the provinces of Argentina ) on the capital, Buenos Aires . The Cordobazo also had lasting influences on the history of Argentina . On one hand, it showed that

1400-491: The network. Ultimately, only enough of these were built to service just Line E rather than the entire network. Nevertheless, they have served many years on the network and today they are used as temporary stand-ins in lines where newer rolling stock is arriving, and is thus being slowly phased-out of the network. The lack of maintenance of the FIAT 7131 coaches put some of them out of service, so in 1987 Ferrocarriles Argentinos looked to Materfer to provide light railcars for

1440-465: The police (see Correntinazo ). On 17 May, the student Adolfo Bello was killed during a protest in Rosario (see Rosariazo ). On 21 May, the police killed the 15-year-old student Luis Blanco during a silent march of 4,000 persons in Rosario, in commemoration of Bello's death. Rosario is declared by the authorities an emergency zone under military jurisdiction. On 29 May 1969, the police shot dead

1480-464: The population accepted violent means to defend themselves against the military dictatorship, since no other democratic means of expression could be used. On the other hand, liberal democracy , parliamentarism and the system of elections was globally refused by what came to be known as the New Opposition ( Nueva Oposición ). Even Arturo Frondizi , who had been elected in 1958, had legitimized

1520-530: The same design, the delivery of which began in 2014. In 2014 Materfer launched the MTF-3300, a diesel locomotive equipped with 6 engines of 500 HP each. The machines were produced from an agreement with American company National Railway Equipment and its design was based on General Motors GT-26 model. A total of AR$ 100 million were invested to develop the project. Those locomotives were produced for freight services in Argentina, with expectations to export

1560-431: The state-owned company Ferrocarriles Argentinos which operated trains within Argentina from 1948 to 1991. The company has also exported its products to Cuba , Bolivia , Uruguay and Chile . Materfer owns a 66,000-square-metre (710,000 sq ft) factory with 200 machines, mainly electrofusion , folding , sheet metal cutters and overhead crane machines. In the 1980s Materfer employed 2,500 people, mainly in

1600-436: Was acquired by Argentine entrepreneur Sergio Taselli and reopened with only 5 employees. In 2007, the Government of Argentina authorised Materfer to operate as an automotive company. The decree, signed by then president Néstor Kirchner , allowed the company to buy and import spares as well as to export finished vehicles. Therefore Materfer started to produce buses for urban services in company's factory at Ferreyra. After

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